The Conservative Cat

It's important to point out that according to the detective interviewed by the L.A. Times, the "all but one" characterization is an exaggeration. But the Huffington Post article performs an even bigger disservice to the truth. Ms. Ladowsky places the "all but one" and "a hard-core Trekkie" phrases in quotes, elevating them to a higher level of attribution. In fact, they are quotes from the secondary source-- the L.A. Times article-- not the detectives themselves. Here's an actual quote from Detective Lamond of the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit:

We always say there are two types of pedophiles: Star Trek and Star Wars. But it's mostly Star Trek.

That's a different picture, isn't it? Now, consider another quote from this article in Macleans magazine.

Along with the photos on the computer of Scott Faichnie, also busted for possessing child porn, they found a snapshot of the pediatric nurse and Boy Scout leader wearing a dress "Federation" uniform. Another suspect had a TV remote control shaped like a phaser. Yet another had a Star Trek credit card in his wallet. One was using "Picard" as his screen name.

So, we're not necessarily talking about the original Star Trek series, and some of it's Star Wars. Yet, Ellen Ladowsky devotes fourteen paragraphs to the sexuality of James T. Kirk and his crew.

What makes that analysis completely ridiculous is paragraphs like this:

[When] it comes to relationships off the ship, Captain Kirk displays a truly astonishing emotional poverty. He goes from planet to planet, having trysts with an assortment of nubile women, but never forms any real attachments. By the next episode, the last female partner is forgotten. (Although we don't know all that much about pedophilic sexual offenders, one thing we do know is that they have trouble forming authentic adult romantic relationships.)

The emotional poverty described is in fact characteristic of the time in which the series was written. In those days (which was back when Bruce was growing up, in case you're wondering how I know), relationships that dragged through more than one episode were characteristic of soap operas, not action-adventure shows. According to the liner notes on the DVD for Where No Man Has Gone Before, the purpose of that script was to prove you could do an action/adventure science fiction show within a realistic budget. The original pilot (The Cage) was, in fact, all about complicated emotional relationships, and the network didn't like it.

I feel a bit guilty piling on about this because Ms. Ladowsky actually watched a bit of Star Trek before writing her article, and compared to other HuffPost articles I've critiqued, that stands as a towering research effort. In addition, Ms. Ladowsky does admit that "there may be quibbling about the exact numbers", and one can argue that she's only trying to determine why a connection exists, much like ancient map-makers may have argued over exactly why God decided to make the world flat.

But the overriding question has to be why she wrote the article in the first place. For as long as this story has been making the rounds, no one has ever thought to examine the pedophiles themselves. We talk about their inner motivations as if it were scientifically impossible to find out how many think they're following in the footsteps of Captain Kirk and how many carry around phaser-shaped remote controls because young boys like to play with them.

So, if you are a hard-core Trekkie, here's my advice: the next time someone tells you there's a connection between Star Trek and pedophilia, simply say

That story is completely false. It appeared in the Huffington Post.

I suspect your opponent will have a difficult time responding to that one.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat